Interesting change in TNG Remastered 2x16 "Q Who" (maybe)

[chrinFinity]

I need a second opinion.

In the scene where the Borg drones are investigating Engineering and Worf shoots them with the phaser, did the new special effects change the color of the Borg's personal force fields to look more green than they did in the original version of the episode?

I always remembered the TNG Borg personal forcefields as being translucent clear or white in color, as opposed to the green we get used to later on with First Contact and Voyager.

But in the Remastered Q Who I'm watching now, they appear green.

Am I misremembering the original, or did they tweak the effect in the Remaster for continuity?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

You are correct.

Original - http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s2/2x16/qwho145.jpg

Remastered - http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x16/qwho_hd_225.jpg

Now with more green!

 

[erastus25]

I can't decide which one I like better. Leaning toward the original, although I guess the green is more consistent with the aesthetic of the FC re-designed Borg.

 

[Lance]

I can imagine there are definitely some purists out there who would baulk at this change. But like the CGI 'expansion' of the Borg cube interior in the same episode, I see it as a relatively harmless way to bring consistency into the Borg aesthetic across the whole franchise.

 

[Ember]

It's harmless really I think. I'd compare it to the first Star Wars movie, where the first or second recolouring from the 90's made Skywalker's lightsaber slightly more blueish. That made sense as it was proper blue in The Empire Strikes Back, but purists will always attack that detail too. That's not per se wrong, but neither is a mild recolour.

I would've been annoyed though if they had used raw footage and completely redid the effect, making it hexagonal with green high-def sparks flying everywhere, but luckily they didn't.

 

[JesterFace]

Don't go all Goerge Lucas on me!

Original is... original, and it looks just fine, no need to screw around with it.

Besides, I think that at that time in TNG the Borg was a serious enemy, not that "Voyager Borg" that was almost too easy to defeat...

 

[Tosk]

They changed more than that, too. 'Ave a gander at the effect when drones disappear. Original is a straight dissolve, new version kind of 'melts' into the floor.

I like the new effect, disappointed it wasn't used again after Q Who.

 

[Go-Captain]

The change to a green tint annoys me a little. It's a pointless correction where there was no error. It's not important either way though.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I think the shield is cooler the way it was originally. As a first run viewer, it was a surprise the first time around. I believe it was also a milestone moment in Trek. Energy shields had not been used in *quite* that way before, and visually there was nothing like it that I can recall. The device in "The Arsenal of Freedom" had a different effect altogether. You can see the influence of the flat-panel "just-in-time" deflector style later next season in "The Survivors." (A very tiny, purist) part of me mourns the loss of the effect's original design since that milestone is no longer enshrined.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I don't liek it. Not everything needs to be retroactively fixed.

And I don't agree with another poster about consistency in the Borg aesthetic look across the series. Why would keeping the original effect not be consistant? If anything we learned the Borg are constantly adding the biological and technological distinctiveness to their own, always adapting and changing; we even saw such a change during TNG where they learned to adapt to frequency range changes after a few shots, indicating they haven't encountered that before (seems silly though).

And if we take what happens in Voyager as Trek canon (I prefer not to, but...), we know the Borg have encountered and numbered so many species (the highest number designation was 10,026) that indeed they would be constantly refining and adding technology; what they have can always be in some kind of flux. Further more it doesn't necessarily mean all ships are upgraded to reflect that technology (though I think they would do so -- why not?).

 

[JWPlatt]

Note the orange phaser. Someone on the Tealization of Hollywood Committee has infiltrated Star Trek productions because, you know, according to Hollywood everything goes better with orange and teal (green is close enough). Another sad, sad day in Hollywood history.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

If anything we learned the Borg are constantly adding the biological and technological distinctiveness to their own, always adapting and changing

ding ding ding, yep.

 

[Lance]

And I don't agree with another poster about consistency in the Borg aesthetic look across the series. Why would keeping the original effect not be consistant? If anything we learned the Borg are constantly adding the biological and technological distinctiveness to their own, always adapting and changing; we even saw such a change during TNG where they learned to adapt to frequency range changes after a few shots, indicating they haven't encountered that before (seems silly though).

Fair point. I hadn't really looked at it that way. But it makes sense.

 

[Timo]

The biggest upside for me is that there now is a distinction between the Borg and the "Husnock" shields... It's not as if there ought to be a connection, after all.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Marsden]

I think the shield is cooler the way it was originally. As a first run viewer, it was a surprise the first time around. I believe it was also a milestone moment in Trek. Energy shields had not been used in *quite* that way before, and visually there was nothing like it that I can recall. The device in "The Arsenal of Freedom" had a different effect altogether. You can see the influence of the flat-panel "just-in-time" deflector style later next season in "The Survivors." (A very tiny, purist) part of me mourns the loss of the effect's original design since that milestone is no longer enshrined.

I agree. Also the lack of color makes it seem more like an invisible shield. The green somehow makes it seem more primitive to me. The original shield is not so much visible except for the reflection of the phaser striking it. The green shield makes me think Sinestro should be able to kick the whole collective's ass himself.

 

[Green Shirt]

You are correct.

Original - http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s2/2x16/qwho145.jpg

Remastered - http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x16/qwho_hd_225.jpg

Now with more green!

Green is good.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The original shield is not so much visible except for the reflection of the phaser striking it.

That's an insightful observation. Gray is chromatically neutral, so that fits perfectly.

You are correct.

Original - http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s2/2x16/qwho145.jpg

Remastered - http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x16/qwho_hd_225.jpg

Now with more green!

Green is good.

I'm not a greenist, I swear!

 

[JWPlatt]

Colonel Phillip Green approves the change.

 

[Marsden]

You are correct.

Original - http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s2/2x16/qwho145.jpg

Remastered - http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x16/qwho_hd_225.jpg

Now with more green!

Green is good.

I believe a certain Kermit might not agree with you.

 

[trekshark]

It's harmless really I think. I'd compare it to the first Star Wars movie, where the first or second recolouring from the 90's made Skywalker's lightsaber slightly more blueish. That made sense as it was proper blue in The Empire Strikes Back, but purists will always attack that detail too. That's not per se wrong, but neither is a mild recolour.

I would've been annoyed though if they had used raw footage and completely redid the effect, making it hexagonal with green high-def sparks flying everywhere, but luckily they didn't.

and then in one of the dvd releases they made his lightsabre green while he was training against the remote